Try This Trendy Grain

Why This Powerhouse Grain Should Be On Your Radar

Every few years or so, a hot "new" grain comes
along and captures our imagination (and pantries) for a hot minute or
two. "New" gets quotation marks, since most of these grains aren't new
at all. They're nutrition- and flavor-packed powerhouses that have been
kicking around fields for thousands of years. Quinoa, freekeh,
amaranth, or other so-called "ancient grains" fall into this category.

Sorghum is an ancient grain, too, but it's never taken off in quite
the same way. A few years back, syrup made from sweet sorghum had a bit
of a revival in the States, thanks largely to Southern chefs who liked
playing around with old-fashioned ingredients. But, the idea of eating
sorghum as a grain itself, or in flour form, is still a foreign concept
to most Americans, despite the fact that we actually produce the most
sorghum in the world (most of it ends up as fuel or animal feed).

That may be changing, though, as grain
sorghum finally catches on, like the pockmarked nerd who blossoms long
after high school. Domestic farmers, chefs, and consumers have recently
started realizing what African and Indian audiences have known for
years: that grain sorghum is not only "ridiculously easy to grow," says
Anson Mills founder Glenn Roberts, who's developing a line of African
Red sorghum berries and flour to distribute to chefs, but also healthy
(high fiber! no gluten!) and straight-up delicious, with a nutty,
complex flavor and dozens of culinary possibilities.

"Sorghum used to be a major player in ancient trade routes like the
Silk Road, but in modern times, it's sadly been relegated to pauper's
food," says Matthew Cox of Bob's Red Mill
in Milwaukie, Oregon. For decades, Bob's has sold domestically
grown white sorghum flour as part of gluten-free baking mixes, but a few
years ago, it started carrying whole-grain sorghum as a standalone
product. "We've been really trying to push it into the spotlight," Cox
says, and it seems to be working.

In restaurant kitchens, the grain is getting the royal treatment: Evan Rich of Rich Table
in San Francisco pops tiny, globular grains of white sorghum to make a
kind of miniature popcorn (or pophum, if you will) that he scatters atop
chicken-liver mousse on a warm brioche. Travis Milton, chef de cuisine
at Comfort
in Richmond, Virginia, goes a step further, cooking popped sorghum with
butter and cream, then straining them to make grits. Sam Kincaid, pastry
chef at Fork in Philadelphia, makes a gluten-free granola featuring cracked sorghum, sorghum flour, and sorghum syrup (get the recipe).

Dan Barber of Blue Hill and Linton Hopkins of Holeman and Finch are among the first chefs to receive Anson Mills' brand-new sorghum, and last fall, dessert guru Alice Medrich released Flavor Flours,
a cookbook of alternative-flour sweets that features an entire chapter
dedicated to "mild, decidedly sweet" milled sorghum. Even hooch makers
are getting in on the act: South Carolina's High Wire Distilling recently rolled out a deep amber sorghum whiskey using grains from a Mennonite farm in Central Tennessee.

It's high time you start experimenting with it at home, too. Hearty,
slightly chewy, simmered sorghum makes a fine substitute for farro or
brown rice in a grain salad or pilaf, while the fine-milled flour can be
used in lieu of traditional wheat for pancakes, waffles, or muffins.
Medrich recommends pairing sorghum with complementary flavors of warm
spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg) and ingredients like berries, butter,
or nuts. Apart from Bob's Red Mill (Anson Mills isn't selling its sorghum retail just yet), sorghum grains and flours are available at Nuts.com and Idaho-based Purcell Mountain Farms.

"It's one of my all-time-favorite grains in the
world," Milton says. "It's incredibly versatile, but at the same time,
totally unique." So, go ahead — grab yourself a front-row ticket to the
sorghum show.